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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25573468">Vodka</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Percabeth One Shots [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians &amp; Related Fandoms - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Underage Drinking</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 02:48:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>926</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25573468</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Annabeth really struggles with things after Tartarus and turns to alcohol to help numb the pain.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Percabeth One Shots [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1840204</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Vodka</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I know underage drinking is a little out of character for Annabeth, but I wanted to roll with this idea.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Annabeth pulled the bottle out from under her bed. It was the middle of the night, and the Athena cabin was dead silent. She should be afraid that one of her siblings would wake up and see what she was doing, but she didn't have it in herself to care. Alcohol was the only thing that made it stop. She knew it was bad for. She knew she shouldn't be doing it. But she couldn't stop. </p><p>It had started two weeks ago when Connor threw a going away party for Travis, who was leaving for college in a few days. The Hermes cabin was loaded with stolen goods, including vodka and drugs, so the boys had gotten carried away... and so had Annabeth. She told herself that it was fine, that this would be the last time, but she knew it wouldn't. She told herself that it was warranted after all she had been through. She told herself that she needed a coping mechanism, and this was working, so it was fine. But it was all lies. </p><p>She silently twisted the cap off of the bottle and raised it to her lips, knocking her head back before she could think twice about it. The bitterness burned her tongue, scalding the back of her throat. But she drank anyway. There came a point when she couldn't stand the taste anymore, so she stopped and waited for the numbness to kick in.</p><p>It didn't take very long. As soon as Annabeth could feel the vibrations in her fingers and toes, she shoved the bottle back under her bed, hidden behind her duffel bag. She leaned against the frame of her bunk and closed her eyes.</p><p>Pain. Death. Hurting. Screaming. Falling, falling, fallingfallingfalling.</p><p>She opened her eyes. The vodka was supposed to help with this. Why wasn't it working? She was tempted to drag the bottle back out again, but that would have taken energy she couldn't find. She could wait a few more minutes.</p><p>Those minutes passed her body tense for every second of them. She closed her eyes again. </p><p>Darkness. Screaming. Shouting. Crying. "Never." Swish. Screech. Pain. Blood. Falling, falling fallingfallingfalling.</p><p>Annabeth gritted her teeth. What was so different about tonight's nightmare that was making the alcohol useless? </p><p>Luke, her mind said. Go away, Annabeth thought, I don't want to talk about that. </p><p>She didn't want to think about it, but it was true. She had dreamt that Luke was with her in Tartarus, but he was not her friend. Not that he was her friend in real life anyway. That still hurt too much.</p><p>As soon as her mind began to drift away, she pulled the bottle out again. One more sip, she told herself. She twisted off the cap and raised it to her lips, but there was a knock on the door before she drank. She shoved the vodka back under the bed, not bothering to hide it. Whoever was here was going to leave soon anyway, Annabeth would make sure of it.</p><p>She made her way over to the cabin door, trying not to stumble, and opened it. It was Percy.</p><p>Shit.</p><p>"What are youdoinghere?" she slurred, cursing herself for even speaking. He didn't seem to notice, though. Perhaps he thought it was just from sleep.<br/>
"Could use some company," he whispered. He looked as good as Annabeth felt, which wasn't very great. </p><p>In her drunken state, she didn't really process his words, so she stared at him for a minute before realizing it.</p><p>"Oh, yeah, gimme a second I need somthin'" she mumbled. He followed her back to her bunk, staying quiet as to not wake up her fellow cabinmates. She groped around her bed for a sweatshirt but didn't find it. So it must be under her bed. Shit.</p><p>"What's this?" Percy asked, picking something off of the floor. Annabeth turned and stared at what he was holding. It was the cap to her vodka. He spent a few seconds trying to read the name off of it before mispronouncing it. </p><p>"Isn't that the name of a liquor company or something?" he asked. </p><p>Annabeth said nothing. She couldn't think of anything to say. If she hadn't been exhausted and drunk, she may have realized that Percy didn't know yet that she was drinking, but her out-of-prime self didn't. She mumbled something incoherent, something even she didn't understand. She tried to take the cap away from him, but he held it out of her reach. </p><p>"Hang on," he said, "What's going on? Where did this come from? Why are you acting so... so... weird?"</p><p>She stayed silent again as her boyfriend realized what a terrible person she was. She fell to the floor, crying. Hands in her hair, pulling clumps of it out,  a sniffling, snotty mess. Percy moved to the floor with her and picked her up by her armpits. </p><p>She didn't remember what he was saying to her, too ashamed by herself, but she knew he wasn't mad. That almost made her angrier. Almost. Why was he always so good to her when she was a piece of garbage to him? She hated herself, she hated everything.</p><p>Eventually, Percy calmed her down and tucked her back into bed.</p><p>"We can talk about this tomorrow, okay?" he said, rubbing Annabeth's back. </p><p>She nodded sleepily. He grabbed the vodka from under her bunk and took it with him out the door. She could vaguely hear the splash of liquid on the earth as he dumped out the entire contents of the bottle.</p>
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